Here’s a brief overview of me. I am Joshua James Blake. I go by the name Josh Blake; I hate the -ua part on Joshua. I was born in Barrie, On. September 12, 1987 to my parents Jane and Roger. My one and only sister Emma was born two years later. I spent the majority of my childhood growing up in Scarborough where my father was a minister and my mom worked as a director at the local nursing home. My parents divorced when I was about eight years old; we moved to Mississauga where I spent the rest of my junior and senior high-school years.
I’ve just finished my third year at the University of Guelph, completing a B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Molecular Biology & Genetics. I really like my program and the courses I get to take. It offers me a fine balance between the function of life on a molecular scale all the way up to life on a corporeal scale.
Lately, I see myself heading into genetic medicine. Where abouts I cannot say, yet I’m looking for a balance between clinical practise and research. I think it would be extremely cool to get into the field of experimental genetic medicine - this novel area of medicine seeks to undo the fundamental causes of disease itself - why become infected with a disease and then try to treat it, when you can just prevent infection to begin with! Ultimately, I think I want to go to med school too in order to balance out the theoretical aspect of my training.
This past year, I worked alongside Dr. A.R. Merrill in the exploration of bacterial toxins. I was exposed to the techniques and practical aspects commonly faced within a protein and biochemistry lab. Subsequently, an opportunity opened up for me down at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto along side Dr. Norman Rosenblum for this summer. I am exploring the putative roles of the Sonic Hedgehog signalling pathway in the developing kidney. This signalling pathway is highly conserved among most higher order eukaryotic organisms, and plays a vital role in patterning the developing human body. I’m really excited to have this summer research position.
I’m a pretty easy going guy, and I’m actually a lot of fun to be around. I’m proud to say that I have some of the best friends in the world that have stuck by me through thick and thin. I’d say the one major personality flaw that I have is that I can be critical sometimes - not to be cruel, but to be objective. I think this comes into play mostly when trying to understand peoples ignorance. Ignorance is one thing I cannot stand - to be a certain way because you do not care how you affect others is a poor excuse. It’s one thing to be an individual, have whatever attitude you want in life, but when that individuality interferes with someone elses existence and individuality that’s not cool. Keep it to yourself.
All things aside, I’m far more complex than a niche on the web - so send me an email or something like that.
